Belarus punk-rock star seeks permanent residence in Ukraine

Former Lyapis Trubetskoy and now Brutto front-man Sergei Mikhalok seeks a permanent residence permit in Ukraine but is to keep Belarus citizenship.

Former front man of the Liapis Trubetskoy band and current singer at the Brutto band Sergei Mikhalok and his producer Anton Azizbekyan appealed to the Ukraine Minister of Culture to help them get a permanent residence in Ukraine.

The musician explained that the support of revolutionary events in Ukraine by Liapis Trubetskoy is negatively perceived by authorities in Belarus and Russia, which is an obstacle to the creative process. Thus he and his producer, without giving up the Belarusian citizenship, decided to get permanent residence in Ukraine.

According to Michalok, in 2015 his band is planning to two Ukrainian concert tours and record a new album and clips in Ukraine.

Minister of Culture, in turn, sent a letter to the Interior Minister Arsen Avakov with the request to grant permanent residence to Mikhalok and Azizbekyanu as soon as possible, reports UNIAN.

Syargey Mikhalok repeatedly and publicly expressed his critical attitude of the Belarusian authorities. In 2011, he and his band hit the so-called "black list" of musicians with their concert activity in Belarus becoming impossible.

With the Lapis band Mikhalok performed at Euromaidan in support of the revolution, and his song Voiny Svetu became the unofficial anthem of Euromaidan. This led to Mikhalok having problems in Russia - MiKhalok was accused of supporting nationalists.